Labyrinthodont
Labyrinthodonts were amphibians with a typical amphibian body plan. In Primeval Episode 4.5 Two Labyrinthodonts (a parent and a juvenile) came through an Anomaly into a seaside cave near the village of Witchfield Cove in the present day. As the Lennons' were dumping fuel into the cave through a drain, the Anomaly frequently became too weak for the Labyrinthodonts to return through. Ray Lennon discovered the Labyrinthodonts and locked them in the cave, but occasionally released the adult to kill anyone who came close to discovering the Lennons' fuel-smuggling operation. Over the years, the adult Labyrinthodont was sighted from whenever it was released, and became notoriously known among Witchfield Cove as "the Witchfield Worm." One night, Ray released the Labyrinthodont to kill a boy who had come to prove the existence of the "Witchfield Worm." The next day, the Labyrinthodont attacked a fisherman by a river, but the fisherman was saved by Matt and the Labyrinthodont returned to the river. Abby later found the Labyrithodont and chased it to a Haven Holidays caravan park, where it chased two young boys whom Abby saved. Abby hid in a caravan from the Labyrinthodont, and the creature climbed onto the caravan roof, trying to get to Abby inside. Abby drove the caravan, with the Labyrinthodont still on its roof, out of the caravan park; but the creature tried to break inside through the window, causing Abby to crash the caravan. Meanwhile, back in the cave, the acid left over from the oil being dumped into the cave was injuring the juvenile Labyrinthodont still there. The adult creature heard the juvenile's distress and returned to the cave. There, the creature ate the Lennons; and while Abby distracted the Labyrinthodont, Connor moved the oil away from the Anomaly, allowing it to fully open. The two Labyrinthodon then returned through to their time. (Episode 4.5) Biology Koolasuchus was a semi-aquatic carnivous amphibian. They lived in the Australia during the Cretaceous. It is notable both because it was one of the largest temnospondyls at around 5m long, and because it survived long after its cousins further north that had become extinct; Koolasuchus is believed to have been one of the last of the temnospondyls ever to exist. Koolasuchus is belived to have lived much like a crocodile, waiting in the water for prey come near enough, then attacking. The Koolasuchus in Primeval has been largely exaggrated as the creature is 3m longer than its normal size (This may be due to mutations from the oil), has scaley skin, which being an amphibian it probaly lacked, and has two rows of teeth. It is very likely that this labyrinthodont is not a Koolasuchus at all due to these discrepancies. Description They were short-legged and mostly large headed, with moderately short to long tails. Many groups, and all the early forms, were large animals. Primitive members of all Labyrinthodont groups were probably true water predators, and various degrees of amphibious, semi-aquatic and semi-terrestrial modes of living arose independently in different groups. Some lineages remained or became fully aquatic with reduced limbs and elongated, eel-like bodies. They appeared in the Devonian and became extinct in the Cretaceous. The exact species to appear in Primeval has not currently been identified, though it is thought to be Koolasuchus. However, due to the fact that it is so different from any known labyrinthodont, it is most likely a fictional undiscovered species. Trivia *This is the first amphibian to appear in Primeval. *Like the Kaprosuchus, Smilodon, Gorgonopsid, and the Camouflage Beast, the Labyrinthodont came through the anomaly before the ARC was founded. *A plausible theory about why the adult is so big could be this: The 'baby' is actually fully grown and the 'adult' is its mate, only the 'adult' suffers from gigantism, allowing it to grow to such a humongous size. Another theory is that the two amphilbians are both different genders and both genders has a different growth rates and growth limits. *This is yet another creature to have been seen as a Monster by locals. *It has killed more than three people because Abby says people (and livestock) have been disappearing for decades. *According to the Primeval official site, this Labyrinthodont is from Poland. *This is Tim Haines' favorite creature in Series 4 and 5. *Another possibility of the species of Labyrinthodont is the Rhinesuchus, as the official website states that it lived from the Late Paleozoic to the Early Mesozoic. But still, Rhinesuchus lived in Africa, not Poland. *The more likely explanation is that it is a Mastodonsaurus, as Mastodonsaurus fossils were found in Poland, plus the size of the Labyrinthodont fits the Mastodonsaurus. However, its body plan does not, and it is shown walking powerfully out of the water whereas it is known Mastodonsaurus died when its ponds dried up and therefore could not survive out of the water. However, it should be noted that no known labyrinthodont looks like the one from the show, and being amphibians all labyrinthodonts in real life had to stay close to water, not just Mastodonosaurus. *This is yet another creature to kill a woman. * The Labyrinthinodont may be based on the Koolasuchus from Walking with Dinosaurs. * The Labyrinthinodont appears in the Primeval New World teaser trailer. * It may be an oversized Eogyrinus, a labyrinthodont with a similar streamlined body shape to the labyrinthodont from the show. If this is the case, then that would make the labyrinthodont the largest Carboniferous creature yet encountered by the team. Errors *It is stated that it had highly reduced limbs, but in the episode it had powerful legs and could even stand upright for several seconds. *If this species of Labyrinthodont is a Koolasuchus, then this amphilbian is oversized as Koolasuchus is only 5m long but in the series, it is 8 to 10 meters long. *The Primeval Website on ITV states that the Labyrinthodont is from Poland; if it is a Koolasuchus, then it would live in Australia, not in Poland, however this should also be used as evidence, perhaps it isn't a Koolasuchus after all. However, it is possible that being an amphibian, Koolasuchus was able to swim to Poland from Australia, but we haven't found fossils there yet. *The Labyrinthodont should have smooth skin, not thick scales, covering it´s body. *The Labyrinthodont has upper and lower teeth in the series, but in real life they were smaller. *The labyrinthodont in the show looks like a cross between a crocodile and a worm, but in real life it was more like a salamander. *The Labyrinthodont is shown to be able to live very well out of the water, but it needed to wet its skin from time to time. *It is shown to have the ability to climb up things like trailers, but in the reality it was strictly firmed to the ground. Category:Creatures Category:Series 4 Creatures Category:Prehistoric creatures Category:Paleozoic creatures Category:Mesozoic creatures Category:Cretaceous creatures Category:Aquatic Creatures Category:Creatures that cause deaths Category:Creatures that killed other creatures